Public Relations
Our Public Relations VP, Sue Marceau, is pleased to share the recent publicity AAUW Prescott has received via Prescott Women Magazine. Read below about the magazine’s publisher, Breeanya Hinkel and follow this link to view the AAUW article in the magazine Sue is sharing.
Award-Winning Publisher Embodies ‘What Makes A Prescott Woman’
Publisher Breeanya Hinkel radiated the organizational leadership earning her a 2023 Prescott ATHENA Award, and effectively embodied What Makes A Prescott Woman, while speaking at the October General Meeting.
Hinkel, owner and publisher of Prescott Woman Magazine, shared the publication’s philosophy for advancing area women of all professions, goals and life achievements.
While many entities salute business ownership and philanthropy at career peaks, Hinkel likewise emphasizes women in everyday roles successfully launching and building their lives and professions. Those experiences often mirror her personal journey.
Born and raised in Prescott, Hinkel graduated from Prescott High School and worked her way up the professional ladder. Leaving in 1999 with a graphic design certificate, she followed a boy and a dream to North Dakota. At age 19, she became a graphic designer at the Minot Daily News and studied design and marketing at Minot State University.
Hinkel returned to Prescott two years later, slightly heartbroken but never frostbitten. She then managed the pre-press and graphic design departments for EMI PrintWorks before joining Prescott Woman Magazine in 2008. While serving as layout and ad designer, she also engaged in freelance graphic and website design under her own brand, BJH Designs.
Assuming ownership of Prescott Woman Magazine in 2018, Hinkel has since excelled as publisher, owner and creative director. She lauds her team, acknowledging that she is not a one-woman show: “Without these amazing women behind me, I would not be able to do this. We are in lockstep, always trying to educate and inspire.”
Writing about the women featured in the magazine captures the diverse aspects that make each woman unique and propel her to “accomplish exciting things in giving back to her community or profession,” Hinkel explained. “What makes a good story is engaging, relatable, genuine, educational and inspirational. It captures ‘what makes you: YOU.’
The process can be challenging, she said, because writers “have to dig deep. It’s hard to pull those stories out of an individual.”
Published every two months, the magazine utilizes six themes: Holiday and Nonprofit, Wedding and Travel, Home and Family, Outdoor Adventure, Business and Education, and Health and Beauty.
Writer Hilary Dartt depicted AAUW Prescott as “Striving for Equity, Creating Opportunities” in the Aug / Sept ’23 issue.
Other notable subjects over the past year include Prescott Area Shelter Services (PASS); the unique friendship between Andrea, a reformed neo-Nazi, and Esther, a Holocaust survivor; and the Sweeneys, a family which parlays its life with two autistic adults into making Prescott an inclusive space.
Hinkel was “surprised” in September 2023 to be awarded the inaugural Prescott ATHENA Award for Organizational Leadership, a recognition of her professional, community and philanthropic achievements in directing the magazine.
She and Quad Cities Business News (QCBN) introduced the ATHENA Awards to Prescott four years ago. When QCBN “took it on” in 2022, Hinkel initiated her own annual Prescott Woman Award to honor everyday women making a difference. The 2023 cohort forms “a lively group” which can be viewed at www.prescottwomanmagazine.com. Nominations for 2024 will begin Feb 8.
Giving back to the community through the Board of Directors of Prescott Downtown Partnership and on committees for Prescott Women Who Care and Finding and Making the Good, Hinkel also is past vice president of Suze’s Prescott Center for the Arts.
Stretching her muscles and comfort zone this year, she performed in Dancing for the Stars, an annual fundraiser for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Arizona. The competition raised a record $466,000, with $52,075 of that from Hinkel’s supporters.
Emphasizing that she is not a dancer nor accustomed to performing on stage, Hinkel said she and her original dance partner trained for six months. Meanwhile, they also heavily promoted and fundraised. An eleventh hour accident and change in professional partner almost sidelined her ballet debut, but Hinkel persevered and aced it.
“Prescott is all about community and I loved that part about being a dancer,” she said. “I saw how compassionate people can be when given a chance to work together.”
To get a story published, contact Hinkel at www.prescottwoman.com or call 928-458-0252: “There are stories to be told and we want to honor every Prescott woman.”